A Chinese national beach-goer at Sentosa is stabbed by the spines of a stonefish (
Synanceja horrida). Mind you, this is not the first case that has been reported there. The New Paper
has the story (04 Nov 2007) [
pdf].
It is interesting to note that in a 2004 study of eight cases of stonefish victims, only two were Singaporeans. The other six were foreign nationals from Myanmar and China. I guess they are more often out in the water exploring than the locals! Well until Wildfilms crews started exploring Singapore waters. They have clocked at least two or three cases so far (see references below).
Stonefish are one of the reasons why we do not allow poorly-shod or barefoot students to enter the water. There is of course, also broken pieces of glass and other organisms. In fact we did not see a stonefish during our practicals but there were large glass pieces and plenty of scorpion fish. The venom of the latter can be almost as unpleasant!
Read about the four main groups of dangerous fish in "A Guide to the Common Marine Fishes of Singapore". Once you know enough about them, you know what to be careful about and have a safe time in the inter-tidal zone!
See also: